Failures left killer who believed he was ‘God’ to stab man to death
AGRANDFATHER was killed by a paranoid schizophrenic who believed he was God killing the devil.
Nigel Abbott was stabbed 52 times in the neck, bludgeoned and stamped on in Sutton Coldfield
His attacker, Kierran Fletcher, should have been admitted to a secure unit before the killing but was not because of failings in the mental health services.
A jury found Fletcher, 30, of Turchill Drive, Walmley, not guilty of murder by reason of insanity following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court.
Judge Melbourne Inman QC ordered Fletcher to be detained under the Mental Health Act without limit of time, describing it as an “incredibly tragic case”.
Mr Abbott had been walking to a pub on the evening of July 27 when Fletcher came running out of his home and launched the “savage and brutal” attack.
As a result, the 65-year-old suffered many fractures to his skull as he was stamped on repeatedly and hit with an object.
The victim was stabbed 52 times to the area of his neck. When the police were called Fletcher was extremely violent and had to be repeatedly tasered by officers.
The court heard that up to two to three weeks before the killing Fletcher, who had two children and a partner of 13 years, had been acting normally.
However, things then changed and he started to show signs of paranoia.
He started to believe people were watching him, that his former partner was stalking him and kept a couple of knives beneath his bed for protection.
Fletcher would also wake up either hysterically laughing or crying and became fixated that he was God.
His brother managed to get him to see his GP who concluded he was mentally unwell and contacted the home ment team.
However, instead of ringing his brother they rang the defendant who told them he was fine.
Fletcher was persuaded he would have to go to hospital and he packed a bag but nobody came.
Throughout this time a member of his family rang the mental health team 34 times but did not get an answer.
On the night of the killing Fletcher went on to Facebook and was watching videos about the blood moon and had dragged his partner, Amy into the garden.
When Mr Abbott then walked past the defendant’s response was: “That is the f*****g devil and has got to die.”
In his summing up, Judge Inman QC said: “There has been an inquiry by the National Health Service into what happened before this tragedy took place.
“It was accepted that things had gone terribly wrong and that Fletcher should have been admitted to a secure unit that night. If he had, Mr Abbott would not have died.”
He said two psychiatrists had found that Fletcher was insane at the time he killed Mr Abbotts and that he was suffering from the most severe form of paranoid schizophrenia.
Afterwards the victim’s widow Gail Abbotts said: “We hold Birmingham and Solihull Health Trust responsible for my husband’s death.
“Had the mental health team done what they should have done we would not be here. We have been let down badly, really badly. There has to be a change to prevent this ever happening again to anybody else.
“We will not stop until we get a change. He was the most kindliest and caring man you could ever wish to meet. He was really hard working and loved his family. He lived for us and worked for us. He was just going for a drink. Something he had done for the last 30 years.”
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